life through a lense
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
the "bad"
"the bad"
yes it has to be gordon the asshole strachan,now the manager of "celtic" football club glasgow" i 1st met him in coventry when he played one night for the reserves(coventry city),it was a night match under floodlights,the telegraph in coventry asked me to go.
the pre match pics never went down very well,so i haunted the guy all night getting every pic i could of him in action,i got back to the telegraph that night and left proofs for the 1st edition.
the way the telegraph portrade the pics and story,never done me any fuckin credit,maybe it was bad light but! i had a kool shot of him in a tackle ,his veins were popping out his legs.awrite!! the camera never lies(true) it made him look like shit.....
were u passed it gordie??(not my view) the telegraph (coventry)....
it never stopped there,as i used to cover local sport i went to a cup final in wellesbourne(yes gordon remember that one).. :-), i chased you and the good wife down the hill and snapped you getting into your wee jeep!!
yes its me alan watson, the guy u told to piss off one night at a reserve match at highfield road
coventry!!,i only asked for your pic!!
numb nuts!!!
midweek pink photographer.....now back in scotland :-)
the good the bad and the ugly!!!
the good
another diary. hey ive met a few good/bad/ and pure fuckin ugly guys in my career,hey ok am no a picasso myself but!!,it was my job!! maybe the best guy i ever came across was the 1996 embassy darts world champion (stevie the bronze adonnis"beaton),he came from southam warwickshire/just round the corner from coventry,and i know he does alot of work for charity(the good guy) it was the day of the final against some welsh twat (ritchie burnett) what a cocky wee asshole he was.due to stevie being a warwickshire guy ,then the coventry telegraph was well up for a picture special,i covered some local football that week-end then done a 120mph dash down to frimley green, my press pass was all organised.........in my bag? a nikon f4 various lenses/my cannon eos 1nrs/ a metz flash gun&about 12 rolls a film./80./200 lense/300 f2.8/ monopod/and took my father in law dennis to carry my bags! well it was just an excuse to get him in for free
:-)....... i was shown into the press room.....woooooo lovely looking girls passing cigs about from embassy(thats all stopped now,boy were they fit :P
i did get my picture special/the fuckin hard way
stevie won the match as the press pack swarmed the front of the stage during the presentation/every national and local paper was in attendance,big aldo here was shut out!, i couldnt get near the front................... up ures a thot!
the bratt pack as i called them were in front of the main table shooting towards the stage and i grabbed a chair and jumped over the pack ,on top of the table getting the best pics in the house...(he who dares aldo) i got away with it.....if a photographer needs a pic that bad ,he will get it trust me
coming up the bad!!
Monday, September 04, 2006
***shooting - the - stars***
life through a lense update. hey the midweek pink edition was launched, it came out on a Wednesday& fuck was i busy,my feet never touched the ground i covered every sport going as every team in warwickshire demanded coverage,they bought the paper, which paid my fees,so felt they were entitled to coverage.who was i to complain.
the perks
after signing a contract with the telegraph i still managed to hold onto "full copyright",any picture orders came through me i was loaded&in demand, i had picture specials in all editions that came out, i went to every sporting event in warwickshire and beyond,what started off as a hobby escalated ........
what now
indeed!! ,the launch of the midweek pink was celebrating its 1st year,i was asked along to the 1st year celebrations, dan mason the editor at the time picked up the tab for the drinks bill(nice one dan) u still skint??.they even had a radio broadcast by the sports editor "roger draper", i sat listening to the live broadcast in the afternoon to hear him praise alan watson for his fantastic pictorial coverage/fuck i was in shock!........me(big AL) famous at last!!
i was given a free photo order form in every edition that came out,and ended up spending 60% of my time sorting photographic orders out,how fuckin cool is that...... to follow!
"the good the bad and the ugly"
Sunday, September 03, 2006
in the bag"
ok what does a photographer carry in his bag!!.well working for the telegraph in coventry i had full use of there equipment plus my own,of course its all changed now they have gone digital,but during my spell there i used my own cannon eos 1nrs shooting upto 10 frames per sec,a numerous selection of focal length lenses&my trusty speedlights,a monopod & a good sense of humour.....camera 35mm film(fuji 200 up to 800&a good eye for detail,anyone can take a picture,its making the picture tell a story that counts& capturing that image at the exact second freezes time(well that my opinion and im sticking to it
skies the limit
so....after taking the job on at the telegraph my life changed,not only doing local sport, i went from sat/sunday football, to premier games and also,boxing,the embassy world darts,motox & ice-hockey but to name a few,hell i was even supplying the birmingham post and mail,the tribune,the bed echo and numerous others.
the sports paper was a sell out and two years on they introduced the "midweek pink" this was the beginning!!
intro
how it all started...... i was at one stage never interested in photography,but whilst working for peugeot car factory in coventry i was involved in an accident,ending up with serious back injuries,two operations and 4 years later, i was deemed medically retired,bummer at 21 eh,what now i thought?. well life goes on,my step dad jim was into photography @the time and was attending college in glasgow,after seeing what could be achieved and manipulating images, i jumped at the chance and arrived back in coventry and quickly signed up for a b-tec national dimploma in photography course,the duration?(two years)....
from that day on my photgraphic life really took off with a "bang", i had friends that played local football and was invited along to take some action shots!......it totally surprised me,the shots were excellent and made every picture tell a story.
for the 1st time i submitted them to the local sports paper the coventry evening telegraphs " pink",and two weeks later was invited down to the editors office and offered a job........the story continues shortly
from that day on my photgraphic life really took off with a "bang", i had friends that played local football and was invited along to take some action shots!......it totally surprised me,the shots were excellent and made every picture tell a story.
for the 1st time i submitted them to the local sports paper the coventry evening telegraphs " pink",and two weeks later was invited down to the editors office and offered a job........the story continues shortly
